Dark: Blinkit strike: Why Zomato-owned company has shut down some Delhi-NCR Dark stores – Times of India

Zomato-owned quick-commerce platform Blinkit has reportedly told its delivery executives that the company is shutting down some of its Dark stores in Delhi-NCR region. According to reports, this comes in the backdrop of delivery executives’ strike. Since the past few days, some Blnkit delivery workers have been protesting against the lowering of payouts. This has led to disruption in Blinkit services with several customers in many parts of the Delhi-NCR region seeing ‘temporarily unavailable’ messages on the app while trying to place an order. The disruption in Blinkit’s services has also resulted in a bump in sales of rivals including Tata Group-owned Big Basket’s BBNow and Zepto. BBNow reportedly saw incremental order growth of 28% in Delhi, and 43% in Gurgaon and Noida last week. Zepto too is said to have witnessed a 40% jump in orders from Delhi-NCR after the strike began, while Swiggy’s Instamart saw a 10-20% rise in orders.
What are these Dark stores
Grocery platforms have specific locations, called ‘Dark stores’, where they store and package their products for quick delivery. Delivery executives are only allowed to deliver from these specified Dark stores.
Areas affected by the strike
Dark stores in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, and Greater Noida have reportedly been affected in the ongoing strikes. Blinkit operates approximately 400 dark stores in 20 cities throughout the country. The quick commerce company has a significant presence in the Delhi-NCR region, where almost half of its Dark stores are located.
Why the protest
The workers are reportedly demanding rollback of the company’s revised payout structure, which they claim is resulting in a reduction in their earnings. Blinkit has changed its payout system from a flat Rs 25 per delivery (plus Rs 7 during peak hours) to a Rs 15 per delivery minimum fee along with a distance-based component.
IDs blocked
Blinkit has reportedly disabled IDs of these workers after several rounds of talks are said to have failed. According to a report in Moneycontrol, the striking workers have received a message about the closure of Dark stores in certain areas and disabling of IDs. The message is a mix of Hindi and English. “Dear Blinkit partner, We thank you for providing your services to customers from your store. You all have not been working at the store for the past 3-4 days, and work has not started despite a lot of talks. That’s why the company is having to shut down this store forever,” the message reads when translated to English.